Human skulls found at San Gabriel construction site

SAN GABRIEL>> Two human skulls and other remains have been found near the San Gabriel Mission, uncovered during the excavation for the Alameda Corridor East rail project.

The bones are believed to be Native American, ACE’s lead archeologist John Dietler said, but archeologists are still working to find out more information about them. He said the discovery, originally made by construction crew members, was a surprise since the area they were excavating is not right next to the mission.

“It’s outside of the known cemetery, there was no reason to believe we might find remains here,” Dietler said. “It’s a little bit early to give the complete picture because we are still investigating. At this point we have at least two skulls and several other bones. We are still in the process of trying to determine whether that represents intact burials or displaced burials or what, we just have a stretch where at this point two skulls were visible in a side wall.”

ACE’s San Gabriel Trench Project, which will lower the Union Pacific railroad tracks for more efficient crossings, began last year across from the Mission. Before the project, Dietler’s team of archeologists excavated the dig area and uncovered a plethora of Native-American artifacts including pottery, arrow heads and the remains of a historic mill.

A human foot bone and a tooth were found during the main excavation of the site last year and were reburied at the San Gabriel Mission.

ACE Construction Authority spokesman Paul Hubler confirmed that portions of a human skull were found while construction crews were digging a sewer trench on Mission Road at about 4 p.m. on Monday. The bones were found three feet beneath the ground, Hubler said, and work was immediately halted and the coroner and archeologist were called to investigate.

Dietler said the Los Angeles County Coroner has already declared the bones “not modern.”

The Native American Heritage Commission has appointed tribal leader Anthony Morales and his group, the Gabrieleno-Tongva tribe, as the “most likely descendent” for any native remains found in the dig site.

Under state law, Morales’ group has the final say in what happens to the remains, Dietler said.

Adrian Morales, cultural resource consultant for the tribe, said he believes the bones should remain where they are, however the sewer project would disturb them so it’s likely they will need to be moved.

“I believe ultimately the remains should remain, that’s the tribe’s goal ... but if we leave it in there and they continue on with their pipeline how are they going to protect the remains?” Morales said. “We have made recommendations but right now I’m assuming they are under review, so no final details have been worked out.”

A second native group in San Gabriel, the Kizh Nation of the Gabrieleno tribe in San Gabriel, has also been monitoring the site to give counsel on native artifacts found.

Though it legally has no power over the remains, the group, headed by Andy Salas, said Thursday it also objected to removing the bones from the dig site and made that recommendation to Morales’ team.

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“I believe that if our ancestors or anybody’s ancestors are found they should be left where they were placed in the beginning.

If they were thrown there or buried there, that was their resting place, that’s the place that those descendents of theirs decided to place them,” Salas said. “If that’s where they were laid to rest let it be. As native people we don’t believe you should be handling remains of our ancestors, it’s sacred.”